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Has anyone had any keyboard issues with the MacBook Air 2018?

Not me but a friend returned his after discovering two keys that wouldn't register.
What a piece of junk.
What's so sad is that Apple quit their "normal" keyboard which was one of the best in the industry and went with this junk that has hardly any key travel and makes artificial sounds. Last thing most companies change is the stuff most people agree on and like. Not Apple. They're in the business of "we know best".
 
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GtrDude said:
Not me but a friend returned his after discovering two keys that wouldn't register.
What a piece of junk.
What's so sad is that Apple quit their "normal" keyboard which was one of the best in the industry and went with this junk that has hardly any key travel and makes artificial sounds. Last thing most companies change is the stuff most people agree on and like. Not Apple. They're in the business of "we know best".
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Because they desperately needed the .12 from 2015 keyboard.
 
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Kraizelburg said:
In my honest opinion this issue doesn't have anything to do with dust but a design flaw. I believe a keyboard can't operate in normal conditions with such a small travel.
I believe apple knows the butterfly keyboard is just a big fail but they have to stick with it for a few generations to make everyone think that they don't make such mistakes design wise.
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No it’s dust, the macbook has the same keyboard design and it’s fine after all these years.
 
Another week, still no keyboard problems with the gen 3 butterfly keyboard on the new MacBook Air.

My house has tons of dust and dog/cat hair. I even accidentally spilled a bit of a protein shake on it the other day (and dried it very quickly). No troubles. I'd feel the same as you guys if I had issues, but I'm feeling like I'd be having trouble if there was truly a critical design flaw here.

We'll see what the next week brings... :rolleyes: YMMV, good luck to all.
 
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Does anyone else's spacebar feel spongy? I took mine back and got a replacement but this seems the same. The rest of the keys have much more "snap" to them. Maybe this is just how it's meant to be?
 
worldvirus said:
Unless you only use your mac in a sandstorm in the Sahara, I would suggest after 2 weeks, any problems in the keyboard are a manufacturing fault rather than a design flaw.
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The two go hand-in-hand, though, when tolerances are so razor thin as they apparently are in these things. The design is flawed because even the tiniest variations in part fit (due to exposure to normal human environments) seem to cause keys to fail completely.

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lambertjohn said:
My wife has a 2016 MBP and has had zero issues with the keyboard. As for me, I've had a 2018 Air for a few weeks now and have not experienced one single issue with the keyboard. And I don't expect to. I keep a $3 can of compressed air on my desk, and when I sit down to work every morning, I hit the keyboard with a blast of compressed air and get on with my day. Probably unnecessary, but good peace of mind. Just take care of your computer equipment and you'll be fine.
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You're telling us all that you've been obsessively spraying it with air every single day, and that this is somehow a normal part of "taking care of your computer equipment"? Very cool.

Meanwhile I'm typing this on a 2012 MBP keyboard that has never had to have compressed air directed at it to keep working. I don't even own a can of compressed air. If I pulled this thing apart I am quite confident there would be all kinds of crap under the keys at this point. It works anyway because it's a good design.

Any keyboard that is so sensitive to dust that it has to be blasted with pressurized air daily to (hopefully) keep working is a design fail, full stop.
 
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lambertjohn said:
My wife has a 2016 MBP and has had zero issues with the keyboard. As for me, I've had a 2018 Air for a few weeks now and have not experienced one single issue with the keyboard. And I don't expect to. I keep a $3 can of compressed air on my desk, and when I sit down to work every morning, I hit the keyboard with a blast of compressed air and get on with my day. Probably unnecessary, but good peace of mind. Just take care of your computer equipment and you'll be fine.
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This is absolutely hilarious.

I bet you’d find a way to justify lack of functioning speakers with “I keep a $3 earphone on my desk” too.
 
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I'm loving the keyboard on the MacBook Air 2018 so far. I previously had the 2017 nTB MacBook Pro and it was a complete nightmare. Shift key started sticking after a few weeks as well as other keys (especially when it started to get hot). Had to go to the apple store multiple times to get the keys fixed...it was such a complete hassle. The keys were also more clicky, while on the air it feels more smooth and makes less noise. I've had the air for less than a week, but hopefully it continues to work this way without problems! The battery life is also much, much better and feels drastically lighter in terms of weight (despite only being a bit lighter compared to the pro's).
 
KB23 said:
I'm loving the keyboard on the MacBook Air 2018 so far. I previously had the 2017 nTB MacBook Pro and it was a complete nightmare. Shift key started sticking after a few weeks as well as other keys (especially when it started to get hot). Had to go to the apple store multiple times to get the keys fixed...it was such a complete hassle. The keys were also more clicky, while on the air it feels more smooth and makes less noise. I've had the air for less than a week, but hopefully it continues to work this way without problems! The battery life is also much, much better and feels drastically lighter in terms of weight (despite only being a bit lighter compared to the pro's).
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Since you only had the Air for less than a week, is it a bit premature to judge the keyboard. Noticed you mentioned that the 2017 nTB keyboard started to fail only after a few weeks.
 
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davidteal said:
Does anyone else's spacebar feel spongy? I took mine back and got a replacement but this seems the same. The rest of the keys have much more "snap" to them. Maybe this is just how it's meant to be?
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That's normal.
 
kreasonos said:
If you want a spill proof keyboard get a Thinkpad. If you want a laptop with an awesome track pad get a Mac. Apparently we have to choose haha.
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If the choice didn't also involve macOS vs Windows, I'd already be on a ThinkPad honestly.

macOS is all that's keeping me here really.
 
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navaira said:
I'm amazed by people who say there are no keyboard issues with Gen 3 because they own their laptop for TWO WEEKS already and it still works very well :)
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Well said sir. 2 weeks is nowhere near enough to come to a conclusion about its reliability. I'd give it 3 years give or take, and if the same people who said their 2 weeks old mba still have not experienced any keyboard failures, I would say that's pretty reliable but no, it has not been the case. As a matter of fact, it has been the other way around.

I have a co-worker who bought a 2018 mba base model and he's pretty happy w/ it. I informed him about keyboard failures on the 2016+ models and 2018 still didn't fix it. He said he hasn't experienced any keyboard failures yet, but if he does, he will sell it and get a different laptop.
 
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